Romanowski spit shines J.J.'s image

GWEN KNAPP, EXAMINER COLUMNIST

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, December 18, 1997

SANTA CLARA - J.J. Stokes was on his way to practice Wednesday, helmet in hand. He hurried away from questions about Bill Romanowski, the Broncos linebacker fined $7,500 for spitting in Stokes' face Monday night.

"I'm done with it," Stokes said, as he hustled out of the 49ers' locker room. He also said the media seemed more offended by the incident than he was.

Apparently, Romanowski's buffoonery isn't contagious. His saliva landed on Stokes' face mask, and the young receiver didn't catch a thing - not a drop of the low-brow arrogance that Romanowski brings onto a football field.

Stokes walked away on Monday night, and he walked away Wednesday afternoon. He had better things to do, a game to play, a practice to begin. Romanowski wasn't worth his time, and still isn't.

That's why the league had to step in and fine him - not just to censure Romanowski but to support Stokes' dignified decision against retaliation.

THE INCIDENT started in a pileup after a play, when Stokes felt Romanowski pulling on his groin and confronted the linebacker. Stuck for an intelligent response, Romanowski fired from the lip. Television cameras caught the moment, and Stokes looked stunned, as if he couldn't comprehend such behavior.

Later, Stokes said he was annoyed that an official saw the whole thing and let it go. Romanowski dismissed the incident as a routine part of football. He expressed no remorse.

But by Wednesday, he'd had an epiphany, probably brought on by what passes for divine intervention in modern sports - a conversation with his agent.

In this case the agent (Tom Condon) represents both Stokes and Romanowski.

"My agent talked to (Stokes) because I was going to call him," Romanowski said Wednesday, his wallet lighter and his conscience ostensibly heavier. "He didn't want to talk. He said: "As far as I'm concerned, it's over with. Nobody needs to talk to me.' "

ROMANOWSKI SAID the fine didn't surprise him. "What I did was totally inexcusable," he said, "and I'm sorry to my teammates, my family, the organization and my fans."

To reach the point of contrition, Romanowski required prodding from Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and from repeated television replays, which raised the terrifying specter of the Baltimore Orioles' Roberto Alomar, who became Satan for the electronic age when he expectorated on umpire John Hirschbeck in 1996.

But within a few days, the heat was on. "The thing about it," Niners coach Steve Mariucci said, "it was national television, every man, woman and child is watching. Not a good reflection on the NFL."

THERE ARE some who would argue that spitting happens in football - not often, but it happens. If it's part of the game, should Romanowski be punished just because he did it on a big stage?

The answer: Sure. Another part of the sport, larger than spitting, is the cliche: "Big players make big plays in big games." In other words, public figures really reveal themselves on the largest stages and under the brightest lights. In regular-season football, that's Monday night.

Romanowski makes late hits and spits in faces on Monday night. Again, a defining characteristic.

No one can argue that Romanowski wasn't himself this week. Alomar had defenders, teammates willing to point to his better instincts. Who has lined up to be Romanowski's ally?

When Romanowski was a 49er, he wasn't the most popular of teammates. One year in training camp, according to Examiner beat writer John Crumpacker, Romanowski concluded a drill with a vicious forearm blow to Jerry Rice, who was running an end-around. Harris Barton promptly jumped on Romanowski, informing him that only an idiot would do such a thing.

Since then, Romanowski has learned how to use his head on a football field. He spears quarterbacks with it. He broke Kerry Collins' jaw with a helmet-to-helmet hit last summer, and the NFL fined him $20,000.

WITH THAT prior offense on his record, Monday's fine probably should have been higher. Alomar, after a long battle, was suspended for five games. And in some ways, Romanowski's act was worse. When Alomar went after Hirschbeck, he knew he was dealing with a man who had the power to eject him. Romanowski thought he was going after someone whose only recourse was to fight him. He surely didn't count on the league, or even an official, to get involved.

But if the fine isn't sufficient rebuke, Romanowski may suffer from knowing that he re-affirmed the Niners' decision to dump him. There's nothing a traded athlete hates more.

If anyone has forgotten, here's what the Niners did with Romanowski: They traded him to Philadelphia for third- and sixth-round draft picks; they sent those picks to the Rams for a first-round choice; then they took Bryant Young with that pick.

The deal was already an outstanding trade. Romanowski's spitting makes it look like one of the best in the '90s, rivaled primarily by the Packers' acquisition of Brett Favre and Pittsburgh's deal for Jerome Bettis.

With his foul behavior, Romanowski also cast a couple of Bay Area linemen in a more positive light. The Raiders' Steve Wisniewski and the Niners' Kevin Gogan were ranked first and third in a Sports Illustrated poll naming the dirtiest NFL players. Now, they could both be bumped down.

But nobody looked better in contrast to Romanowski than Stokes. He avoided retribution, behaved like an adult, just played the game.

On talk radio Wednesday, someone suggested that Romanowski targeted Stokes because he knew the receiver was too soft to retaliate.

STOKES IS, in fact, mild-mannered. But soft? Consider that he had a "first-round bust" label hanging over him his first two seasons, one of them abbreviated by a broken hand. Under the same circumstances, most young players fold. They accept the label, cash their checks and disappear.

Stokes didn't quit. He put aside his past struggles and the increasingly obvious fact that he is a tad slow for his position. Instead of giving in, he kept getting better and better at his job.

If that's soft, if walking away from a spitting jerk is soft, then let's hope Stokes becomes a bigger wimp every year. He just might make the Hall of Fame, and he won't have to deal with Bill Romanowski there.&lt;

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